Hi,
Please - has anyone stayed recently at the Beacon, Milburn, Lucerne, On the Ave or Excelsior Hotels. Also, any good nearby restaurants...thanks

Hi gail. I stayed at On the Ave last year. It was nice, clean, and safe. Also convenient to subway and bus stops. What else would you like to know about it? Have also read good recommendations on this board for the Beacon and Lucerne. You might try typing in the names of these hotels in the search function. You should be able to pull up quite a few threads on these. There are tons of good restaurants in this area, but 2 that I ate at are Sarabeth's (for breakfast) and Niko's, which is a little Greek place on Broadway at 76th, I think. You could also do a search on this (type in Upper West Side restaurants). Also, just a suggestion for next time...it might be better to post your question only one time. You have a good heading so shouldn't be too hard to get answers to your question.

stayed a week at the Beacon last week. I thought it was wonderful! Lots of places to eat and very close to the subway! The room was large and we had two double beds. The decorations were nice. We were on the 11th floor and didn't get too much street noise. We had in room coffee, refrigerator and microwave. The neighborhood was nice and safe....cant wait to go back!

Gail, not sure the Milburn is on the UWS. Think it's near Penn Station. I've stayed at the Lucerne (it's good-some rooms are small). The Excelsior gets rave reviews on Rants & Raves here. People love the Beacon too and most like On the Ave. but there have been some mixed reviews on Rants & Raves. The only hotel on the UWS that gets BAD reviews is the Empire.

There are TONS of restaurants on the UPW in all price ranges & all cuisines since it's a residential area.

One of our favorite restaurants is the Zen Palate--elegant, moderately priced Oriental vegetarian. Don't miss Zabars for food for a pinic or to take to your room.